IPad sales top 1 million in 28 days; it took iPhone 74

TECH CHRONICLES

Ryan Kim

Published 4:00 am, Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Photo: Paul Sakuma, AP

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FILE - In this April 3, 2010 file photo showing customer uses an Apple iPad on the first day of Apple iPad sales at an Apple store in San Francisco. Apple said Monday, May 3, 2010, it has sold 1 million of its new iPad tablet computers in the month afterits launch, meaning it's been selling more than twice as fast as the iPhone did when it was new. less

FILE - In this April 3, 2010 file photo showing customer uses an Apple iPad on the first day of Apple iPad sales at an Apple store in San Francisco. Apple said Monday, May 3, 2010, it has sold 1 million of its ... more

Photo: Paul Sakuma, AP

IPad sales top 1 million in 28 days; it took iPhone 74

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Apple is up to 1 million iPads sold in just 28 days, more than twice as fast as the original iPhone.

After Friday's launch of the iPad Wi-Fi + 3G, Apple has pushed past the 1 million milestone. It took the iPhone 74 days to get to that point.

"Demand continues to exceed supply and we're working hard to get this magical product into the hands of even more customers," said Apple CEO Steve Jobs in a statement.

Analyst Gene Munster of Piper Jaffray estimated that Apple sold about 300,000 units over the weekend, similar to the 300,000 Apple sold the first day of sales April 3. He said the 3G unit was sold out in 49 of 50 stores he checked, suggesting that long term, 3G units will make up about 40 percent of all sales while Wi-Fi units will make up the remaining 60 percent.

Munster said it appears that his 1.3 million unit forecast for the June quarter is conservative but there is enough uncertainty around international launches and supply constraints to leave his estimate unchanged for now.

The New York Post is reporting that the two government organizations are locked in negotiations over who will launch the inquiry. A decision, according a person familiar with the discussion, is days away.

An inquiry is just a preliminary step in gathering information that could lead to a formal investigation. Regulators can choose to drop the case if an inquiry does not produce enough evidence for an investigation.

The DOJ and FTC are looking at Apple's decision last month to alter its developer license agreement to see if it's anti-competitive. The rule change forbids developers from using a tool like Adobe's new iPhone Packager to take their existing Flash code and convert it for the iPhone. This could have the effect of diminishing competition by encouraging developers to focus on one platform over others.

Adobe has said the Packager would allow developers to write code once and have their apps appear on multiple operating systems. Apple's CEO Steve Jobs said in a stinging letter last week that tools like Packager result in "substandard" apps and can slow the pace of development on the iPhone platform when developers are dependent on outside tools, rather than Apple's tools.

This could be an important turning point for Apple, which hasn't faced much antitrust scrutiny before because of its small market share in computers. But as Apple becomes a major force in mobile (it has 25 percent market share in smart phones and owns the largest mobile app store), it finds itself in a position to exert more power over the market.